San Francisco, CA October 13, 2011 – Marin Software, provider of the leading online advertising management platform for advertisers and agencies, today released the findings of its Paid Search Quarterly Benchmarking Report, which finds iPad and other tablet users tend to click on paid search ads at a higher rate than desktop or smartphone users. According to the report, although paid search ads directly targeted at tablets only comprises 2 percent of overall paid search spend, the click through rate (CTR) on tablets is 37 percent higher compared to desktops. Furthermore, advertisers targeting tablets like the iPad enjoy a lower average cost per click (CPC) compared to both desktops and mobile devices.

Marin Software’s Paid Search Quarterly Benchmarking Report consists of key trends and statistics uncovered through an examination of the Marin Global Search Index. The Marin Global Search Index is comprised of data from more than 800 large-scale advertisers and agencies that collectively spend in excess of $2 billion annually on paid-search through the Marin platform.

Paid Search Key Findings:

During Q3, paid search spend targeted to desktops comprised 93 percent of total spend while smartphones earned 5 percent and tablets 2 percent of spend. Ads served to tablet devices provided a 37 percent higher CTR than ads on desktops. The average CPC for ads served to tablets was 29 percent lower than desktops.

Compared to last year, search advertisers on Google saw a 19 percent increase in clicks and a 24 percent drop in impressions during the quarter. During the same time, CTR on Google increased 57 percent while CPC decreased 18 percent, suggesting large-scale advertisers realized efficiency gains through improved matching and more effective bidding.

Continual refinement of match types from Broad to Phrase to Exact was a significant contributor to improved efficiencies for advertisers. Over the last year, search marketers have increased their use of Exact Match, growing their click-share of the match type by 6 percent while increasing share of spend by 2 percent.

On Yahoo and Bing, advertisers saw a 43 percent higher click volume at a 10 percent lower CPC over the year. Despite CTR declining on a year over year basis, CTR increased 9 percent compared to Q2, implying improved ad matching or traffic characteristics by advertisers.

The full report, including trends within vertical markets can be downloaded at: https://www.marinsoftware.com/resources/whitepapers.

Quotes:

“As peoples’ desktop browsing habits carry over to devices like the iPad we anticipate advertisers will shift spend and ad strategy accordingly,” said Matt Lawson, Vice President of Marketing and Partnerships at Marin Software. “To achieve the best results, advertisers will need to develop specific programs for each device type. Marin Software provides online advertisers an intuitive platform from which they can optimize their campaigns and help unlock the full financial potential of a campaign.”

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